Paul Gellert

Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin | Charité · Institute of Medical Sociology and Rehabilitation Science

Identifying stops and trips from raw GPS traces is a fundamental preprocessing step for most mobility research applications. Thus, ensuring the excellent accuracy of such systems is of high interest to researchers designing such analysis pipelines. While there are plenty of GPS datasets available, these usually do not provide annotations and thus c...

Mobility research is mainly concerned with understanding mobility on a higher level, including environmental factors, e.g., measuring the time out of home or tracking revisited places. This requires preprocessing the raw data obtained from GPS sensors, like clustering significant locations and distinguishing these from periods on the go. We introdu...

Background: Depression is the most common mental health burden worldwide. Primary care physicians (PCPs) play a key role in the care provision for people with depression. The main objective of the present study was to examine the health care situation of depression in primary care, focusing on the cooperation between PCPs and mental health speciali...

Objectives: Little is known about the diversity of older adults' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. We therefore investigated the pandemic experiences of home-living vulnerable older adults with depression, an understudied subpopulation. Methods: We conducted unstructured interviews with N= 20 older (60+ years) adults with clinical depres...

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, physical distancing measures to prevent transmission of the virus have been implemented. The effect of physical distancing measures on loneliness especially for vulnerable groups remained unclear. Thus, we aimed to investigate loneliness in relation with depressive symptoms among lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, inter, a...

Background: Depression is highly prevalent in nursing home residents living with moderate to severe dementia. However, assessing depressive symptoms in residents with dementia can be challenging and may vary by rater perspective. We aimed to investigate the concordance of, and factors associated with self- and informant-rated depressive symptoms i...

Background Care homes were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although high levels of psychosocial burden (i.e., anxiety, depression and stress) during the pandemic have been described for healthcare workers in hospitals, evidence on the psychosocial burden for nurses in care homes during the pandemic is scarce. Methods A total of 811 nurses parti...

Background Maintaining mobility in old age is crucial for healthy ageing including delaying the onset and progress of frailty. However, the extent of an individuals´ mobility relies largely on their personal, social, and environmental resources as outlined in the Life-Space Constriction Model. Recent studies mainly focus on facilitating habitual ou...

Background: Vaccination rates for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio (Tdap-IPV) are not optimal among German adolescents. Education in combination with easy access to vaccination may be a promising approach to improve vaccination rates. The present paper describes a pilot study of a planned cluster rand...

Background General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in the care of people with dementia (PwD). However, the role of the German Dementia Guideline in primary care remains unclear. The main objective of the present study was to examine the role of guideline-based dementia care in general practices. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of data obtai...

Objectives Vulnerable older adults, such as physically impaired or care-dependent individuals, are vastly underrepresented in psychotherapy research. Improving their inclusion in randomized controlled trials is necessary to determine the effectiveness of psychotherapy in this population. This study is the first to systematically evaluate strategies...

Zusammenfassung. Hintergrund: Das Spannungsfeld zwischen Gesundheitsschutz und Einschränkungen des sozialen Lebens in den Pflegeheimen während der Pandemie ist unzureichend aufgearbeitet. Ziel: Ziel war es, bundesländerspezifische Verordnungen zu systematisieren und die Umsetzungen dieser in einen Zusammenhang mit Einschränkungen sozialer Angebote...

Background: Depression is highly prevalent in nursing home residents living with moderate to severe dementia. However, assessing depressive symptoms in residents with dementia can be challenging and may vary by rater perspective. We aimed to investigate the concordance of, and factors associated with self- and informant-rated depressive symptoms in...

Background Care homes were hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although high levels of psychosocial burden (i.e., anxiety, depression and stress) during the pandemic have been described for healthcare workers in hospitals, evidence on the psychosocial burden for nurses in care homes during the pandemic is scarce. Methods A total of 811 nurses parti...

Objectives Vulnerable older adults, such as physically impaired or care-dependent individuals, are vastly underrepresented in psychotherapy research. Improving their inclusion in randomized controlled trials is necessary to determine the effectiveness of psychotherapy in this population. This study is the first to systematically evaluate strategies...

Objectives To develop a German version of the original University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment (LSA-D) for measurement of community mobility in older adults within the past 4 weeks and to evaluate its construct validity for urban and rural populations of older adults. Design Cross-sectional validation study. Setti...

Objectives To investigate global and momentary effects of a tablet-based non-pharmacological intervention for nursing home residents living with dementia. Design Cluster-randomized controlled trial. Setting Ten nursing homes in Germany were randomly allocated to the tablet-based intervention (TBI, 5 units) or conventional activity sessions (CAS,...

Background: General practitioners (GPs) play a key role in the care of people with dementia (PwD). However, the role of the German Dementia Guideline in primary care remains unclear. The main objective of the present study was to examine the role of guideline-based dementia care in general practices. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of data obta...

Zusammenfassung Das Thema Vereinbarkeit von Beruf und Pflege ist in Deutschland gesellschaftlich relevant und nimmt zukünftig weiter an Bedeutung zu. Schon heute sind zwei von drei pflegenden Angehörigen unter 65 Jahren erwerbstätig. Arbeitnehmende, die privat Pflegeaufgaben übernehmen, stehen oft vor erheblichen Herausforderungen und drohen überdi...

Um die Wirksamkeit von Psychotherapie auch für vulnerable alte Menschen zu prüfen, muss diese massiv unterrepräsentierte Population stärker in randomisierte kontrollierte Studien (RCT) einbezogen werden. Vorgestellt werden Ergebnisse der ersten systematischen Evaluation von Rekrutierungsstrategien eines großen Psychotherapie-RCT (PSY-CARE) mit zuha...

Beackground Older adults with mental health problems may benefit from psychotherapy; however, their perceived need for treatment in relation to rates of non-utilization of outpatient psychotherapy as well as the predisposing, enabling, and need factors proposed by Andersen’s Model of Health Care Utilization that account for these differences warran...

Background While the relation between care involvement of informal caregivers and caregiver burden is well-known, the additional psychosocial burden related to care involvement during the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet been investigated. Methods A total of 1000 informal caregivers, recruited offline, participated in a cross-sectional online survey...

Background Recruitment of general practitioners (GPs) and their patients is reported as one of the most challenging steps when undertaking primary care research. The present paper describes the recruitment process of a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) aiming to improve dementia care in the primary care setting. Methods Recruitment data w...

Objectives To develop a German version of the original University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Study of Aging Life-Space Assessment (LSA-D) for measurement of community mobility in older adults within the past 4 weeks and to evaluate its psychometric properties for urban and rural populations of older adults. Design Cross-sectional validation stu...

Objectives: Older adults with mental health problems may benefit from psychotherapy; however, their perceived need for treatment in relation with rates of non-utilization of outpatient psychotherapy as well as predisposing, enabling, and need factors proposed by Andersen’s Model of Health Care Utilization that account for these differences warrants...

Background: While the relation between care involvement of informal caregivers and caregiver burden is well-known, the additional burden of informal caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet been investigated. Methods: A total of 1,000 informal caregivers, recruited offline, participated in a cross-sectional online survey from April 21 to...

Background: The number of centenarians in Europe is increasing; many face health impairments. Adult children often play a key role in their care, but there is a lack of research into what it means for these caregiving relatives to be confronted for many years with their parents' end of life (EOL), dying and death as well as their own advancing age...

Background: Recruitment of general practitioners (GPs) and their patients is reported as one of the most challenging steps when undertaking primary care research. The present paper describes the recruitment process of a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) aiming to improve dementia care in the primary care setting. Methods: Recruitment data...

Background: Non-pharmacological interventions (NPI) can improve cognitive and non-cognitive symptoms in nursing home residents living with dementia. However, delivery of suitable NPI can be challenging in everyday nursing home settings. Internet and communication technologies (ICT) may be promising tools for supporting NPI delivery in nursing homes...

Objectives: To investigate global and momentary effects of a tablet-based non-pharmacological intervention for nursing home residents living with dementia. Design: Cluster-randomized controlled trial. Setting: Ten nursing homes in Germany were randomly allocated to the tablet-based intervention (TBI, 5 units) or conventional activity sessions (CAS,...

Background: There is a need to improve psychotherapeutic approaches to treatment for vulnerable older adults with depression in terms of both clinical practice and health care supply. Against this background, PSY-CARE is testing the feasibility and effectiveness of outpatient psychotherapy for home-living older adults in need of care with depressi...

Idee/Ziel: Depressionen betreffen Menschen im höheren Lebensalter in gleichem Maße wie in jüngeren Jahren.1 Krebspatient*innen und Menschen in der Palliativsituation zeigen gar ein erhöhtes Risiko an einer Depression zu erkranken.2 Die Gruppen eint eine häufige körperliche Einschränkung. Gleichzeitig enden psychotherapeutische Versorgungssysteme we...

Purpose Our aim was to examine whether quality of life which was repeatedly assessed over time is related with the comprehensive assessment of quality of life (QoL) and thereby to validate a brief QoL assessment. Method This longitudinal study used a comprehensive assessment of quality of life at baseline (QUALIDEM; 37 items) to validate an eight-...

ZQP and Charité conducted a nationwide survey with caregiving relatives in home care settings about their experiences during the COVID-19 crisis in Germany. OA: https://www.zqp.de/wp-content/uploads/ZQP-Analysis-COVID19.pdf

Background: In order to close existing information gaps on diabetes-related health perceptions, diabetes knowledge, and information-seeking behaviors among adults in Germany, a representative population-based survey targeting the German-speaking population 18 years and older with and without diabetes was conducted. The aim of the present work was...

Background: Multidisciplinary management of obesity by primary care paediatricians, providing a promising approach to tackle childhood obesity includes cooperation with other health care professionals. However, facilitators for and barriers to multidisciplinary cooperation in ambulatory care are not yet well understood and are investigated in the...

Background: Vaccination rates for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and polio (Tdap-IPV) are not optimal in German adolescents. Education in combination with easy access vaccination may be a promising approach to improve vaccination rates. In a planned cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT), we aim at improvi...

Background: While there is substantial evidence on the relationship between life satisfaction and present physical activity (PA), less is known about which specific PA biographies are associated with a high quality of life and aging satisfaction. Our objective was to identify classes of PA biographies that may be associated with life and aging sat...

While the number of dementia cases is steadily increasing, as of today no medication has been developed to cure its underlying causes. Instead, the focus in treatment has shifted to improve quality of life (QoL) for people with dementia (PwD). To this end, some non-pharmacological treatments such as exercising, socializing, and playing games have r...

Background: Benefits of reperfusion therapies in acute ischemic stroke are highly time-dependent. It is crucial that people who witness the onset of symptoms call emergency medical services (EMS) immediately. The aim of this study was to examine whether there is a gap between recognition of stroke and responding correctly by calling EMS using a sc...

Pflegebedürftige Menschen sind Belastungsfaktoren ausgesetzt, die das Risiko depressiver Erkrankungen erhöhen. Und doch erhalten sie ambulante Richtlinienpsychotherapie nur in seltenen Ausnahmen. Auch gibt es bisher keine kontrollierte Studie zu Psychotherapie bei hochaltrigen Menschen mit Depression und Pflegebedarf, aus welchen hinreichende Rücks...

Fragestellung: Pflegebedürftige Menschen stellen deutschlandweit eine bedeutsame und stark wachsende Patientengruppe dar. Insbesondere ältere Menschen mit Pflegebedarf haben ein erhöhtes Depressionsrisiko, allerdings erhalten weniger als 5% der Versicherten über 65 Jahre mit Depressionsdiagnose überhaupt eine Psychotherapie. Grund dieser massiven U...

This study investigates the extent to which achieving goals during behavioral activation (BA) treatment predicts depressive symptom improvement, and whether goal-related cognitions predict goal achievement or treatment response. Patients (n = 110, mean age 37.6, 54% female) received low-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, which i...

Most people with dementia (PwD) are treated on an outpatient basis, predominantly by general practitioners (GPs). This article provides a detailed protocol of a study aimed at developing and evaluating a tablet-based intervention to improve outpatient dementia care by fostering guideline-based treatment. A cluster-randomized controlled trial with a...

To date, few studies have focused on perceived overprotection from the perspective of people with dementia (PwD). In the present examination, the association of perceived overprotection in PwD is examined as an autonomy-restricting factor and thus negative for their mental well-being. Cross-sectional data from the prospective DYADEM study of 82 pat...

Background: For many patients, the general practitioner (GP) is the most important point of contact for obtaining information about a wide range of health topics. However, patients with different characteristics may seek health information from different sources, such as friends or the internet. The relationship between patient characteristics and...

Objective The purpose of this study was first, to examine perceived diabetes risk compared with actual diabetes risk in the general population and second, to investigate which factors determine whether persons at increased actual risk also perceive themselves at elevated risk. Research design and methods The study comprised adults (aged 18–97 year...

BACKGROUND Evidence suggests that mobile health app use is beneficial for the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its associated complications; however, population-based research on specific determinants of health app use in people with and without T2D is scarce. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to provide population-based evidence on...

Background: Evidence suggests that mobile health app use is beneficial for the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its associated complications; however, population-based research on specific determinants of health app use in people with and without T2D is scarce. Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to provide populati...

Trotz Empfehlung (S3-Leitlinie) erhalten weniger als 5% der Versicherten über 65 J. mit Depressionsdiagnose eine Psychotherapie. Insbesondere Pflegebedürftige haben ein erhöhtes Depressionsrisiko und zugleich kaum Zugangschancen zu psychotherapeutischer Versorgung. PSY-CARE untersucht, ob bei dieser wachsenden Patientengruppe ambulante Kurzzeitpsy...

We investigated the association between the education of informal caregivers' (IC) and their physical and mental burden. We hypothesized that better-educated IC would have more resources available to manage the care situation and as a result show lower perceived burden. We conducted a population survey of 6,087 German residents aged 18+ years, 966...

Background: Psychosocial interventions may improve the quality of life of both people with dementia (PWD) and their family caregivers. However, research is inconclusive and focused primarily on the quality of life of either the PWD or the caregiver, rather than on both. Objective: Our aim was to evaluate the effect of couple-based interdisciplin...

Introduction Childhood vaccination programmes have been established in all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries; however, measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) as well as diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio (Tdap-IPV) vaccination rates are not optimal in adolescents. Education in combination with easy access vacci...

This study investigates the extent to which achieving goals during behavioral activation (BA) treatment predicts depressive symptom improvement, and whether goal-related cognitions predict goal achievement or treatment response. Patients (n = 110, mean age 37.6, 54% female) received low-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy for depression, which i...

Aim Evidence on antithrombotic therapy use in centenarians diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF) is sparse. Our objective was to investigate a possible underprescribing in centenarians relative to younger cohorts of the oldest‐old. We assumed lower AF rates; and, within AF patients, lower use of anticoagulants in those who died as centenarians (a...

BACKGROUND Mobile health apps can help to change health-related behaviors and manage chronic conditions in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes mellitus, but a certain level of health literacy and eHealth literacy may be needed. OBJECTIVE To predict mobile health app use in individuals with CVD and/or diabetes, and to predict p...

Background: Mobile health apps can help to change health-related behaviors and manage chronic conditions in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and diabetes mellitus, but a certain level of health literacy and electronic health (eHealth) literacy may be needed. Objective: The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with mob...

Fragestellung: Pflegebedürftige Menschen stellen deutschlandweit eine bedeutsame und stark wachsende Patientengruppe dar, bei der Depression ein häufiges und kosten- sowie folgekostenintensives Gesundheitsproblem darstellt. Die Versorgungsrealität für diese Patientengruppe, gemessen an ihrem hohen, komplexen, sektorenübergreifenden Hilfebedarf, fäl...

Background Centenarians are considered